Today’s readings (2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14, Galatians 5:1, 13-25, Luke 9:51-62) are hard readings – readings which sit uncomfortably with the world in which we live – a world which is designed to mollycoddle and protect the individual as sacrosanct.
In 1957 Thomas Merton said:
‘The inner basic metaphysical defilement of fallen man is his profound and illusory conviction that he is a god and that the universe is centred on him…….we seek what we may call relative omnipotence: the power to have everything we want, to enjoy everything we desire, to demand that all our wishes be satisfied and our will should never be frustrated or opposed.”
We have just witnessed a number of events highlighting this issue:
The forced resignation of Mark McInnes allegedly for his inappropriate behaviour (and it appears that his actions were unacceptable), but it baffles me that it took the board so long to catch on to what was going on, if as reported, all the staff knew. Perhaps they acted because his behaviour was about to impact on the company and they moved to preserve self – individually and corporately.
The bloodless coup in Canberra. It was a political coup, no different from all those we abhor in other countries – the move of individual will, not the democratic will of the people – but somehow no blood makes it ok - (duh!) It was, as one commentator said, all about parliamentarians moving to protect their jobs, it was about disloyalty and the Ides of March, it was about self – political and individual power. As one Parliamentarian noted at a function to me; ‘If any politician says they are not in it for power, they are lying.”
(Interesting aside here – women played a prominent role in both these events – there was one women on the DJ’S board and our new prime minister who played a key role in the coup is a woman – so much for a softer more gentler world. Interesting, because one of the key players in the suffragette movement, Dorothy Day, spoke of this danger in 1917.)
The dismissal of General McChrystal by President Obama for allegedly saying ‘not nice’ things about him and his political advisors. Perhaps the forum in which it was said may have been more suitable but what was said is said everyday in the halls of the military power brokers and no-one is sacked. It was about protecting image and self – once again individually and corporately - from the prophetic words of one who would know the truth. From personal experience I am glad the powers to be in this country were not as sensitive or I would now be cooling my heels in some out of the way establishment because of comments I have made directly to those in power in our military!
Saying the Uncomfortable Word:
Elisha takes on the mantle of Elijah – not something I would have done to quickly – if the story of Elijah and his run in with the rulers of society are anything to go by. Here was a man who, empowered by God and the Spirit, spoke up about the ways of the world – the accepted values and mores of his society – and was hounded almost to his death by those in charge. In last weeks reading Jezeebel vows to kill him! Elisha, his loyal follower, puts his hand up to take on the very same role.
We first meet Elisha when Elijah sees him plowing in the field. He walks up to him and throws his mantle, his outer cloak, over him including Elisha in his world as his disciple. Elisha followed his master everywhere. He witnessed Elijah do amazing things. He heard him denounce kings at the peril of his own life. Things he could not even imagine doing on his own.
But the day finally came for Elijah to leave him. His master asked him what last thing he could do for him before he left. Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” Elijah’s shoes were big ones to fill and Elisha needed all the help he could get.
Elijah says to do so Elisha must witness his leaving. He does so and he picks up the mantle. He parts the waters with it just like his master did. He begins to lead. He takes on the responsibility of Elijah and went on to be just as outspoken and critical of his society as his master was.
We are challenged to pick up the mantle of Jesus our master and do the same.
Living Counter-Culturally:
Recently I heard a theological scholar comment that the strength of the Anglican Church is that it listens to society and follows its lead. To support his argument he quoted issues such as slavery, women priests, human rights, abortion, and rights for gay people, refugees and more. I was astounded that he thought that was a strength. How did it come to this, that the church has been reduced to being a follower of society’s values and not an upholder of the core values of the Christian faith, which include these and more, and have done so since Jesus was born, delivered the Sermon on the Mount and died for every single human being?
Paul, in Galatians, says simply, we are to be counter-cultural – to live at odds with the values of our world.
If the values noted in the events of this week, and highlighted by Merton, are the world’s values, then they are not for us. One of the most disturbing developments over the last 20 years has been this move to values (used in every conversation, press release and corporate mission statement like salt – just to sound more palatable), not to mention values based education. NRL and the AFL, as did David Jones, has values about inclusivity and even their senior players can’t get it right.
Whose values and why are they important? What are the values of society and where do we see them?
Paul says its not only secular values but also religious values we need to challenge by counter cultural living. I had a conversation with a senior student this week about this (she presented a typed A4 page of questions for me to answer – wonderful stuff) – how, in her perception, the so-called values of the church simply don’t add up in reality. Is the church now obsolete? Our kids see this stuff and challenge us. How do we answer?
In the case in Galatians it is not just about circumcision, which is the sign of the Jewish people as God’s chosen, but of maintaining all that is involved with being that people, the law and ritual, which no longer applies. Jesus has turned that culture on its head and asks his followers to live by one countercultural concept - love – love for God which reveals itself in faith and love or compassion for the neighbour – it is not all about me and my desires.
Being a Living Sacrifice:
In the Gospel reading Jesus ups the ante. A would be follower hesitates because he pleads to be let bury his father. The man does NOT mean that his father has died already and that he needs a day or two to make funeral arrangements. He is saying that he has a duty as a son to care for his father in old age, to see that he has what he needs while he's alive and that he gets an honorable burial once he does die. And Jesus tells this man to "follow me, and let the dead bury the dead." Jesus instructs a man to abandon his family and the values of his society. How counter cultural is that?
It is about becoming a living sacrifice, relinquishing our desires for our self only, instead taking on responsibility for the world, not of the world. It is not that the man’s wish is evil, or selfish or unusual – he was fulfilling the cultural values of his society. Jesus says simply, by reason of your faith and your desire to follow me – all has changed. You have become a member of the kingdom of God, a kingdom with different values – values that place God and those created in his image (people, places and things) before what society says are your rights.
So What Now?
Somebody has said that the reason why people dismiss Christianity (and for that matter all major faiths) is, not that it is too easy, a cop out, but that it is too hard. Simple yes – love God and neighbour – but too hard and they give up before they start.
When we say at the end of the Eucharist :
Father,
we offer ourselves to you as a living sacrifice
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to live and work to your praise and glory,
we are saying, it is no longer about me, it is about the Other and others.
I walk away from my culturally and religiously embedded values and rights and commit myself solely to the values and responsibilities of the Kingdom.
Wow!
Saturday 26 June 2010
Friday 18 June 2010
Humans Behaving Badly
Looking at this weeks headlines I wonder what is happening in our world including:
Mark McInnes (CEO of David Jones)resigns over inappropriate behaviour (with female staff member).
Andrew Johns, Robert DiPierdomenico and Mal Brown inappropriate racial statements.
The verbal bullying between Government and mining industry.
Revenge murder of the mother of a driver involved in a car accident resulting in death.
Violence during the state of origin footy match which went unpunished by the officials and applauded by others.
And thats without looking at what is going on in the international arena.
And more.
No wonder we have a problem with bullying and inappropriate behaviour from our children.
The big question for all the big people (I mean adults) in the world is: what are you doing to arrest this problem? How do you model behaviour? What is it that your children see and hear every day they are with you?
How do you speak about others, deal with authority, understand difference and diversity and exemplify the type of behaviour you want your children to have?
If there are school rules, road rules, accepted standards of behaviour required by society, do you uphold these and support those who are responsible for them?
In a conversation with a group of boys the other day I asked: "Is it o.k. to disrespect others?", they predictably answered yes. I repeated the question three times, the last time they stood still and said nothing. It was then I said, "I think the answer is yes because your behaviour says loudly I do not respect you, so it is obviously o.k. to disrespect others."
And despite our willingness to blame every thing from computer games, movies, music and 'them' (who ever they are), the buck stops with those of us who has responsibility for them: not just parents but parents in the first instance (it's part of the job description), but all adults who have some influence over their lives.
It's time to look into the mirror and do something about what we see.
Mark McInnes (CEO of David Jones)resigns over inappropriate behaviour (with female staff member).
Andrew Johns, Robert DiPierdomenico and Mal Brown inappropriate racial statements.
The verbal bullying between Government and mining industry.
Revenge murder of the mother of a driver involved in a car accident resulting in death.
Violence during the state of origin footy match which went unpunished by the officials and applauded by others.
And thats without looking at what is going on in the international arena.
And more.
No wonder we have a problem with bullying and inappropriate behaviour from our children.
The big question for all the big people (I mean adults) in the world is: what are you doing to arrest this problem? How do you model behaviour? What is it that your children see and hear every day they are with you?
How do you speak about others, deal with authority, understand difference and diversity and exemplify the type of behaviour you want your children to have?
If there are school rules, road rules, accepted standards of behaviour required by society, do you uphold these and support those who are responsible for them?
In a conversation with a group of boys the other day I asked: "Is it o.k. to disrespect others?", they predictably answered yes. I repeated the question three times, the last time they stood still and said nothing. It was then I said, "I think the answer is yes because your behaviour says loudly I do not respect you, so it is obviously o.k. to disrespect others."
And despite our willingness to blame every thing from computer games, movies, music and 'them' (who ever they are), the buck stops with those of us who has responsibility for them: not just parents but parents in the first instance (it's part of the job description), but all adults who have some influence over their lives.
It's time to look into the mirror and do something about what we see.
Monday 14 June 2010
Holding Up The Mirror
Today’s Gospel reading (Luke 7:36 - 8:3) is a well known and oft heard reading. We know it all too well; the nasty Pharisee gets his comeuppance and the poor prostitute is vindicated. Once again Jesus saves the poor and downtrodden and puts the hypocrites in their place! Yay Jesus……. End of sermon and we all nod knowingly.
This scenario plays out in real life everyday, especially when we want to expose others as being worse than us. When someone is caught out in whatever manner, the media exposes it in such a way as to mark them as less tham those of us sitting on the sideline. In actual fact, we often find ourselves sitting on the couch, like the Pharisee, and saying, “I always knew they (she, he) was different to me. ” (Then, to ourselves, I am not like that)
Here we have an outsider, a prostitute whose business was such that she earned enough for expensive perfume (obviously not all the well-to-do Jews present were perfect!), she gatecrashes an invite only party (there would be no way she got an official invite given who she was).
On the couch is the Pharisee, a respectable religious and civic leader, who’s position and well-being was well earned and above reproach. Undoubtedly the other guests at the table were of a similar ilk, and regardless of their opinion of Jesus, he too was seen as a respectable, well-educated Jewish rabbi, otherwise he wouldn’t have been there.
Yet Jesus was a fool, a clown, in truth a Holy Fool – he was what he was but he was also not what he was. He saw the world through different eyes and held up to the world a mirror which said loudly and clearly, “See you self first!” He wasn’t the first nor the last such Holy Fool, the Old Testament and religious writings of other world faiths and philosophies are full of them. As are the histories of all traditions – Anglicanism has modern people such as Desmond Tutu, Catholic tradition has people like Mother Theresa, Buddhism the Dalai Lama and Thicht Nhat Hahn for example. And there are many more like them in Islam, Hinduism and other world faiths.
People who stand still, and without pointing, make their point. Our world needs to hear their stories to counteract the beigeness of thought, ideas and practice we so easily embrace from our popular media and information sources. Our world needs to hear this Gospel story again, remembering it is a foolish story, a mirror held up for all of us to see what we see in the mirror.
The Pharisee and his hospitality
The Pharisees were often found at dinner with Jesus. These dinners were normal social events for the entire community. Jewish society was and still is a communal society; the community shared their life and their table as a normal part of life. This wasn’t necessarily a way to show off, although I am sure that occurred, but it was accepted as normal to open your house to all those in your community. Although only invited guests ate, anyone was welcome to come and listen to the table conversation.
The Jews of the first century did not use tables and chair as the Persians did (cf. Esther 1:6; 7:8) and some Egyptians. Typically they would recline on their left elbow on pillows spread around horseshoe-shaped tables, usually three on a side. Uninvited guests stood around the walls behind the couches and listened to the conversation, gossiped or simply yawned as the conversation became mundane and boring.
We get a glimpse of Simon (a popular name) and his motivation for inviting Jesus when he says to himself: “If this man was a prophet”. His motivation for inviting Jesus may have been more for sport than intellectual stimulation, but he got more than he bargained for. Jesus later hints that he had noted this some time earlier, when the host had failed to provide the normal courtesies of foot washing, kiss of peace or any form of anointing. He knew he was being set up and the form of Simon’s musing shows that he did not believe Jesus was a prophet. This is a unique Greek construction which would be understood as “if this man were a prophet, which he is not, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, but he does not.” This Pharisee totally misunderstood Jesus and His motives, purposes, and actions.
The prostitute and the perfume
Somewhere on the streets the word had come down that a dinner was being held in Simon the Pharisees house and Jesus the Teacher would be present. For what ever reason this lady, described as a sinner by some and as a prostitute by others, got it into her head to be present and to do something, deemed by others to be at the very least eccentric, that would stop the conversation, although to her it seemed a natural thing to do.
She used her earnings, probably almost all of them to purchase an alabaster jar (the jar itself was significant) of perfume. She positioned herself at the back of the couch to the right of Jesus and when he was reclining his feet were right there in front of her. Impulsively perhaps, perhaps calculatingly she bent over, poured the ointment on his feet and wiped it with her hair.
Her motivation, we are not sure. It is more than showing up the Pharisee for his lack of hospitality, but that was part of it. It was more than love for a religious teacher, she saw more than that. She, in her own way, was a holy fool, providing the act which Jesus turned into an object lesson for all who were there, invited or not.
Jesus and his compassion
And then there was Jesus – deep and mystical – a true Holy Fool who grasped the opportunity when the gasping and gossiping had quietened down to tell a story, and to point Simon and his visitors toward the mirror. Did the young lady know of her sinfulness deeply or was it simply the rejection of society she felt? It doesn’t matter, for Jesus intimates that the societal view of sin was the problem and she, in a sacramental way, was showing and receiving love on their behalf.
This foolish woman stood in their place and showed what giving and receiving love was all about. And Jesus in that foolish compassion that was and is his alone, the foolish compassion which stopped the funeral bier in last Sunday’s reading, now rewards this sacramental act with love. He once again stands beside the outsiders and says directly to respectable society, ‘Here’s the mirror, have another look! What do you see now?”
Yes today’s reading is popular and well known, but it in no way a comfortable reading. It is designed, like all Jesus’ pericopes, to disturb. Mirrors usually do.
This scenario plays out in real life everyday, especially when we want to expose others as being worse than us. When someone is caught out in whatever manner, the media exposes it in such a way as to mark them as less tham those of us sitting on the sideline. In actual fact, we often find ourselves sitting on the couch, like the Pharisee, and saying, “I always knew they (she, he) was different to me. ” (Then, to ourselves, I am not like that)
Here we have an outsider, a prostitute whose business was such that she earned enough for expensive perfume (obviously not all the well-to-do Jews present were perfect!), she gatecrashes an invite only party (there would be no way she got an official invite given who she was).
On the couch is the Pharisee, a respectable religious and civic leader, who’s position and well-being was well earned and above reproach. Undoubtedly the other guests at the table were of a similar ilk, and regardless of their opinion of Jesus, he too was seen as a respectable, well-educated Jewish rabbi, otherwise he wouldn’t have been there.
Yet Jesus was a fool, a clown, in truth a Holy Fool – he was what he was but he was also not what he was. He saw the world through different eyes and held up to the world a mirror which said loudly and clearly, “See you self first!” He wasn’t the first nor the last such Holy Fool, the Old Testament and religious writings of other world faiths and philosophies are full of them. As are the histories of all traditions – Anglicanism has modern people such as Desmond Tutu, Catholic tradition has people like Mother Theresa, Buddhism the Dalai Lama and Thicht Nhat Hahn for example. And there are many more like them in Islam, Hinduism and other world faiths.
People who stand still, and without pointing, make their point. Our world needs to hear their stories to counteract the beigeness of thought, ideas and practice we so easily embrace from our popular media and information sources. Our world needs to hear this Gospel story again, remembering it is a foolish story, a mirror held up for all of us to see what we see in the mirror.
The Pharisee and his hospitality
The Pharisees were often found at dinner with Jesus. These dinners were normal social events for the entire community. Jewish society was and still is a communal society; the community shared their life and their table as a normal part of life. This wasn’t necessarily a way to show off, although I am sure that occurred, but it was accepted as normal to open your house to all those in your community. Although only invited guests ate, anyone was welcome to come and listen to the table conversation.
The Jews of the first century did not use tables and chair as the Persians did (cf. Esther 1:6; 7:8) and some Egyptians. Typically they would recline on their left elbow on pillows spread around horseshoe-shaped tables, usually three on a side. Uninvited guests stood around the walls behind the couches and listened to the conversation, gossiped or simply yawned as the conversation became mundane and boring.
We get a glimpse of Simon (a popular name) and his motivation for inviting Jesus when he says to himself: “If this man was a prophet”. His motivation for inviting Jesus may have been more for sport than intellectual stimulation, but he got more than he bargained for. Jesus later hints that he had noted this some time earlier, when the host had failed to provide the normal courtesies of foot washing, kiss of peace or any form of anointing. He knew he was being set up and the form of Simon’s musing shows that he did not believe Jesus was a prophet. This is a unique Greek construction which would be understood as “if this man were a prophet, which he is not, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, but he does not.” This Pharisee totally misunderstood Jesus and His motives, purposes, and actions.
The prostitute and the perfume
Somewhere on the streets the word had come down that a dinner was being held in Simon the Pharisees house and Jesus the Teacher would be present. For what ever reason this lady, described as a sinner by some and as a prostitute by others, got it into her head to be present and to do something, deemed by others to be at the very least eccentric, that would stop the conversation, although to her it seemed a natural thing to do.
She used her earnings, probably almost all of them to purchase an alabaster jar (the jar itself was significant) of perfume. She positioned herself at the back of the couch to the right of Jesus and when he was reclining his feet were right there in front of her. Impulsively perhaps, perhaps calculatingly she bent over, poured the ointment on his feet and wiped it with her hair.
Her motivation, we are not sure. It is more than showing up the Pharisee for his lack of hospitality, but that was part of it. It was more than love for a religious teacher, she saw more than that. She, in her own way, was a holy fool, providing the act which Jesus turned into an object lesson for all who were there, invited or not.
Jesus and his compassion
And then there was Jesus – deep and mystical – a true Holy Fool who grasped the opportunity when the gasping and gossiping had quietened down to tell a story, and to point Simon and his visitors toward the mirror. Did the young lady know of her sinfulness deeply or was it simply the rejection of society she felt? It doesn’t matter, for Jesus intimates that the societal view of sin was the problem and she, in a sacramental way, was showing and receiving love on their behalf.
This foolish woman stood in their place and showed what giving and receiving love was all about. And Jesus in that foolish compassion that was and is his alone, the foolish compassion which stopped the funeral bier in last Sunday’s reading, now rewards this sacramental act with love. He once again stands beside the outsiders and says directly to respectable society, ‘Here’s the mirror, have another look! What do you see now?”
Yes today’s reading is popular and well known, but it in no way a comfortable reading. It is designed, like all Jesus’ pericopes, to disturb. Mirrors usually do.
Saturday 5 June 2010
The Power of Living Non-Violence
Luke 7:14
14Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”
The Tank Man of Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989 held up 4 powerful Chinese army tanks by simply standing in the way. Nothing extraordinary about what he did at one level, at another it was extraordinary.
Extraordinary because he defied the culture and the custom of the autocratic society in which he lived. Extraordinary because from the beginning of the student uprisings 14th April 1989, somewhere between 4,000 and 10, 000 people died and some 30,000 injured. He stood out by standing up – it wasn’t anything he said, just what he did. He confronted death, and became a symbol for life.
While it received international focus, most Chinese students didn’t and still don’t know about it. It is suggested that both the Tank Man and the Tank Driver were executed the former for his defiance, the second for failing to drive over the Tank man, but their feate is unsure.
Here we were faced with the type of non-violent response to violence, both rare and desperately needed in our society.
Readings: (1 Kings 17:8-24, Galatians 1:11-24, Luke 7:11-24)
In our readings we are reminded of the intricate relationship between death and life and how that is played out in the lives of those who have little in the way of resources and resistance to the forces responsible for death – poverty. In these readings Elijah and Jesus exemplify the power of non-violence to overcome the violence of death and those who promote death as a way of life for others.
Elijah obeys God and is confronted by the inevitability of poverty (the widow only has enough for her son and herself). Despite sharing her last meal with the prophet she faces the inevitability of death connected to a life of poverty – it is stark and real. Despite doing the right things in God’s name, both the widow and her son, and Elijah cannot avoid the reality of life.
Jesus re-enacts this scene, although in a slightly different environment, not one of drought and famine, but of the colonial (Romans in power) and cultural (the religious law) oppression that continued to impact on the poorest of the poor – widows and their families.
"The stories of Elisha and Elijah and Jesus suggest that radical change requires (non-violent) passion and compassion for our political and personal and religious enemies. (This type of) compassion isn’t formulaic or predictable or tidy or even rational—yet it is perhaps the only thing that can save us." Debbie Blue
Jesus crossed path with a funeral procession and this very ordinary event touched Jesus. It seems Jesus was deeply affected by death. In a violent society he had not become inured to it and felt it deeply. He confronted it in others and was aware of the consequences he himself would face as a result of the style of life he was living and exemplifying. –
He touched the bier. "In the midst of the complexity of human need is hope and the possibility of renewal and life." William Loader
Jesus’ act fulfils Loaders call in three ways:
• It was a non-violent protest that was powerful.
Jesus reached out almost casually but with purpose and love. Almost immediately, the procession stopped, stopped in its tracks. All present turned their focus on this teacher who had dared to touch the funeral bier.
And the procession buzzed with:
‘What is about to happen?’
‘Why would a religious teacher purposefully make himself unclean?”
“What is he going to do now!”
His act, so innocuous and ordinary, was anything but. He made himself ritually unclean by the every act of touching. He placed himself outside the religious respectable and became an outsider, as poor and as broken as the widow herself. He broke the religious rules to show that love gives life.
He was not interested in the myth of an anaemic popular form of love prevalent in our society, but a deep compassionate love that stops a funeral bier at great personal cost and sends a clear and undeniable message to the political and religious powers within his society.
• It was an act where the ordinary met the extraordinary
Death is the prevalent image in our society as it was in Jesus’ time. Fo those in Jesus time colonial and religious oppression brought with it death by separating those who were righteous from those who were not and, for those who were placed on the outside, this hastened death
In our culture we only have to look at:
Television programming:
Murder and murder investigation shows
Reality shows which are little more than a profitable way to publicly humiliate and destroy others in the name of entertainment (and money)
TV news and documentaries
Computer games
Modern music
Government policies on issues such as indigenous, refugee, gender or environmental issues which focus on political expediency as against justice and compassion. Death is our dominant fear and preoccupation.
Jesus confronts the fear of death by touching the bier. By doing so he is saying death is not to be feared, death is in fact just another face of life and, if embraced as part of life, leads to renewal. Luke is also saying boldly that Jesus is more than just a prophet by placing him in the tradition of Elisha and Elijah as one who has life giving power over death, a fact that is confirmed by his death and resurrection.
• It was an act that asks us to get our hands dirty.
Compassion speaks of being at one with another, having a love which sees the other as yourself and by doing so being prepared to meet the other in their pain and poverty. It is the whole meaning of the good news of Jesus – God became man to know what it means to be human. Jesus acts and indentifies fully by becoming ritually unclean, overcoming death through compassion.
‘He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her’
Compassion for the widow who was now all alone – outcast – destined to a life of poverty. Compassion included the son, but not as the initiator of the compassion. That was the identification with the one who was now poorer than poor.
For a religious teacher who had a reputation for being confronting, this ups the ante. It was no longer simply good enough to be good, you can’t hide behind it at all. Like the Good Samaritan story Jesus acts foolishly with his compassion, risking his life and his reputation, and asks us to do the same.
Unfortunately like most of Jesus’ teaching this is not formulaic – it isn’t a clear and precise set of actions we can know and follow. How and where we show this non-violent form of love, compassion, is not spelt out for us, except that it is to be how we live our ordinary life within the ordinary events of human life.
Like the Tank Man of Tiannamen Square, Elijah in the famine and Jesus on the road, it will be seen how we respond to others in everything we do. For Jesus Compassion, love, is the hardest commandment, to love God yourself and others is all that matters.
14Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”
The Tank Man of Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989 held up 4 powerful Chinese army tanks by simply standing in the way. Nothing extraordinary about what he did at one level, at another it was extraordinary.
Extraordinary because he defied the culture and the custom of the autocratic society in which he lived. Extraordinary because from the beginning of the student uprisings 14th April 1989, somewhere between 4,000 and 10, 000 people died and some 30,000 injured. He stood out by standing up – it wasn’t anything he said, just what he did. He confronted death, and became a symbol for life.
While it received international focus, most Chinese students didn’t and still don’t know about it. It is suggested that both the Tank Man and the Tank Driver were executed the former for his defiance, the second for failing to drive over the Tank man, but their feate is unsure.
Here we were faced with the type of non-violent response to violence, both rare and desperately needed in our society.
Readings: (1 Kings 17:8-24, Galatians 1:11-24, Luke 7:11-24)
In our readings we are reminded of the intricate relationship between death and life and how that is played out in the lives of those who have little in the way of resources and resistance to the forces responsible for death – poverty. In these readings Elijah and Jesus exemplify the power of non-violence to overcome the violence of death and those who promote death as a way of life for others.
Elijah obeys God and is confronted by the inevitability of poverty (the widow only has enough for her son and herself). Despite sharing her last meal with the prophet she faces the inevitability of death connected to a life of poverty – it is stark and real. Despite doing the right things in God’s name, both the widow and her son, and Elijah cannot avoid the reality of life.
Jesus re-enacts this scene, although in a slightly different environment, not one of drought and famine, but of the colonial (Romans in power) and cultural (the religious law) oppression that continued to impact on the poorest of the poor – widows and their families.
"The stories of Elisha and Elijah and Jesus suggest that radical change requires (non-violent) passion and compassion for our political and personal and religious enemies. (This type of) compassion isn’t formulaic or predictable or tidy or even rational—yet it is perhaps the only thing that can save us." Debbie Blue
Jesus crossed path with a funeral procession and this very ordinary event touched Jesus. It seems Jesus was deeply affected by death. In a violent society he had not become inured to it and felt it deeply. He confronted it in others and was aware of the consequences he himself would face as a result of the style of life he was living and exemplifying. –
He touched the bier. "In the midst of the complexity of human need is hope and the possibility of renewal and life." William Loader
Jesus’ act fulfils Loaders call in three ways:
• It was a non-violent protest that was powerful.
Jesus reached out almost casually but with purpose and love. Almost immediately, the procession stopped, stopped in its tracks. All present turned their focus on this teacher who had dared to touch the funeral bier.
And the procession buzzed with:
‘What is about to happen?’
‘Why would a religious teacher purposefully make himself unclean?”
“What is he going to do now!”
His act, so innocuous and ordinary, was anything but. He made himself ritually unclean by the every act of touching. He placed himself outside the religious respectable and became an outsider, as poor and as broken as the widow herself. He broke the religious rules to show that love gives life.
He was not interested in the myth of an anaemic popular form of love prevalent in our society, but a deep compassionate love that stops a funeral bier at great personal cost and sends a clear and undeniable message to the political and religious powers within his society.
• It was an act where the ordinary met the extraordinary
Death is the prevalent image in our society as it was in Jesus’ time. Fo those in Jesus time colonial and religious oppression brought with it death by separating those who were righteous from those who were not and, for those who were placed on the outside, this hastened death
In our culture we only have to look at:
Television programming:
Murder and murder investigation shows
Reality shows which are little more than a profitable way to publicly humiliate and destroy others in the name of entertainment (and money)
TV news and documentaries
Computer games
Modern music
Government policies on issues such as indigenous, refugee, gender or environmental issues which focus on political expediency as against justice and compassion. Death is our dominant fear and preoccupation.
Jesus confronts the fear of death by touching the bier. By doing so he is saying death is not to be feared, death is in fact just another face of life and, if embraced as part of life, leads to renewal. Luke is also saying boldly that Jesus is more than just a prophet by placing him in the tradition of Elisha and Elijah as one who has life giving power over death, a fact that is confirmed by his death and resurrection.
• It was an act that asks us to get our hands dirty.
Compassion speaks of being at one with another, having a love which sees the other as yourself and by doing so being prepared to meet the other in their pain and poverty. It is the whole meaning of the good news of Jesus – God became man to know what it means to be human. Jesus acts and indentifies fully by becoming ritually unclean, overcoming death through compassion.
‘He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her’
Compassion for the widow who was now all alone – outcast – destined to a life of poverty. Compassion included the son, but not as the initiator of the compassion. That was the identification with the one who was now poorer than poor.
For a religious teacher who had a reputation for being confronting, this ups the ante. It was no longer simply good enough to be good, you can’t hide behind it at all. Like the Good Samaritan story Jesus acts foolishly with his compassion, risking his life and his reputation, and asks us to do the same.
Unfortunately like most of Jesus’ teaching this is not formulaic – it isn’t a clear and precise set of actions we can know and follow. How and where we show this non-violent form of love, compassion, is not spelt out for us, except that it is to be how we live our ordinary life within the ordinary events of human life.
Like the Tank Man of Tiannamen Square, Elijah in the famine and Jesus on the road, it will be seen how we respond to others in everything we do. For Jesus Compassion, love, is the hardest commandment, to love God yourself and others is all that matters.
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